UFC 169

Preview: Faber in rematch with Barao

A mere year and a half ago, Urijah Faber's days as a title contender appeared over.

The first breakthrough mixed martial arts star among the lower weight classes, Faber (31-6) lost a unanimous decision to Renan Barao (31-1, 1 no-contest) at UFC 149 in an interim bantamweight title fight.

That marked the fifth straight title fight loss for the Sacramento, Calif., native.

But the former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion will go for the gold one more time, as a remarkable string of circumstances places him in a rematch with Barao in the main event of UFC 169, scheduled for Saturday night at Newark's Prudential Center.

"I never lost belief in myself," Faber said. "That's just who I am, that's the way I was raised. Of course you hear people say you should never get another title shot, but you let it go in one ear and out the other."

As Barao went about defending his interim title in 2013 while official champion Dominick Cruz sat out with a knee injury, Faber went ahead and forced his way back into the title picture as the only UFC fighter to post a 4-0 record in 2013. Three of those wins were submission victories.

Barao, meanwhile, was scheduled to face Cruz on Saturday. But The San Diego-based Cruz had to pull out of the fight with a groin injury. With Cruz more than two years removed from his most recent title defense, the UFC stripped Cruz of the championship and dropped Barao's "interim" tag.

"My goal never was to beat Dominick Cruz," Barao said through an interpreter. "My goal was to become the true champion of the division, and I'm very proud to be that champion. I want to keep the belt for a long time."

Into Cruz's void stepped Faber, just six seven weeks removed from his most recent fight, a second-round finish of Michael McDonald on Dec. 14. Faber says he was ready when he was asked to take the bout on three weeks' notice.

"I never let myself get out of shape," Faber said. "I'm always in shape, I'm always working out. That's just who I am, that's the person I've been ever since I was a teenager and competing in wrestling."

In the evening's other title bout, featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr. defends his belt against Chicago's Ricardo Lamas.

Aldo (23-1), a native of Manaus, Brazil, is the UFC's longest reigning current champion, as he won what was then the WEC belt in Nov. 2009. This will mark the champion's eighth title defense, with the most recent being a fourth-round TKO of Chan Sung Jung in August.

Lamas (13-2), who won four consecutive fights, three of them via finish. But in deciding to wait on a title fight, he's been out of action for a year, raising questions of whether ring rust will be a factor in the bout.

The challenger dismissed the notion.

"This is my job, and whether I have a fight lined up or not, I'm in the gym every day," Lamas said. "This is my career. I take it very seriously, so I don't need any extra motivation to go train."

Should Aldo win, a bout against lightweight champion Anthony Pettis could be in the works. For one thing, Aldo has all but cleaned out the competition at featherweight. For another, he's struggled to make the 145-pound weight limit several times in recent years and could benefit from a move to 155.

"The timing has to be right," UFC president Dana White told reporters at a Los Angeles media event Monday. "If he defends his title this weekend, Pettis comes back, Pettis fights his fight, and then Aldo."

In a main-card bout of note, heavyweights Frank Mir (16-8) and Alistair Overeem (36-13, 1 no-contest) square off in a bout in which it is believed the loser will be cut from the roster. Mir, a former UFC champion, is the longest-tenured current fight on the roster, having been with the company since 2001. But he's lost three straight fights.

Overeem, meanwhile, has been knocked out twice since returning steroid-related suspension.

The UFC announced a contingency plan in case weather forces a change of the Super Bowl day. If snow moves the football game to Saturday, UFC 169 would be rescheduled for Sunday night. However, on Thursday morning, Accuweather projected a high of 45 degrees with a low of 28 and no precipitation for the Super Bowl game.